Gypsy and His Band of Ghosts debut EP out electronically today
Gypsy, sans Ghosts Just a quick heads-up: The local band Gypsy and His Band of Ghosts, headed up by former Once Nothing/Haste the Day drummer Giuseppe Capolupo, released its debut EP today. It’s available for streaming via Spinner, and can be purchased on iTunes. Look for more on the band in next week’s CP.
Adventures in Grammar
Some intriguing alchemy: A lot of these clothing donation boxes turn unwanted garments into, say, rag rugs, but this group turns “used clothing into new kids.”
Public Artwork “The Workers” Presented
Lead artist Tim Kaulen and the Industrial Arts Co-Op chose Labor Day weekend to symbolically hand over to a group of local workers their new sculpture honoring the region’s labor heritage . “The Workers” depicts a pair of 20-foot-tall steelworkers created out of scrap from vanished local mills. It was installed Aug. 22 in South…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Sept. 4
A visit from the NAACP … Tom Smith: still a jagoff … does the mayor cheat at golf?
Lynn Cullen Live 09/04/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; Democratic National Convention; Castro giving keynote speech; Post-Gazette spells “Asean” instead of “Asian” on headline; marathon liar; Paul Ryan kills bin Laden in the Onion; Reagan’s Personal Spying Machine by Seth Rosenfeld; Obama always has to have in the back of his mind that someone wants to kill him; hospital…
Is This Chair Taken?
Today, everybody is talking about chairs that may or may not hold invisible people. Here’s a local one to contemplate.
Hitler layoff parody video expresses displeasure with EDMC’s Art Institute layoffs
A student upset by massive layoffs at Art Institutes nationwide decided to make a video to really express his displeasure.
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Aug. 31
Has Clint Eastwood been playing a role all these years? More on those unpaid home healthcare workers. And shit gets REAL at this year’s Cookie Cruise.
Lynn Cullen Live 08/31/12
Video Archive Republican National Convention; Clint Eastwood’s speech; Obama’s response: This seat is taken; Twitter responses to the speech; Obama will probably win PA & Ohio; mouth noises during Republican speeches; black liberal woman singing Romney’s praises; audience laughed at Romney for ridiculing Obama for being pro-active regarding rising sea-levels; USA chanting is annoying &…
Indie Film Distributor Acquires Local Enviro-Doc
First Run’s acquisition of “YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip” promises a bigger audience
Local Environmentalists Warn that Summer is Getting Too Hot
AmyJo Brown Trevette Hooper, owner of Oakland’s Legume restaurant, speaks at a press conference about climate change Thursday under the Roberto Clemente Bridge on the North Side. Is climate change ruining summer? That’s the question an outreach coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation had for Pittsburgh this morning, timing it with the release of a…
RNC Hat Watch
Funny hats are few and far between at this week’s Republican National Convention. But we found one.
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Aug. 30
Franco Harris’ lonely crusade … Pennsylvania families falling behind … and could parody Twitter accounts be outlawed?
Lynn Cullen Live 08/30/12
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; The Fartest; Republican National Convention; last night’s RNC speeches; you have to be taught to hate; Paul Ryan: Obama is going to take away Medicare; the Navy & Bin Laden’s capture; Condoleezza complains about Obama’s failure in foreign policy, can’t name an example; Repubs need to admit that the US…
Stolen rabbits and packed lunches
The crime report gets hare-y in Whitehall.
A lawsuit in the making: How a 1991 ruling set the stage for an ACLU suit last week
There’s a lot of talk going on about the ACLU’s lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices at the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. I have a column about it in today’s issue, and the Post-Gazette editorial board opined on it as well. Here’s the thing that has been left out of the discussion so far: None of…
A lawsuit in the making: How a 1991 ruling set the stage for an ACLU suit last week
There’s a lot of talk going on about the ACLU’s lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices at the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. I have a column about it in today’s issue, and the Post-Gazette editorial board opined on it as well. Here’s the thing that has been left out of the discussion so far: None of…
Gillian Flynn’s thriller Gone Girl
Extend your summer reading into fall with Gillian Flynn’s twist-filled thriller Gone Girl
R.I.P. PGH Taco Truck
The owner of the PGH Taco Truck, a mobile food truck that was set to open this month, announced Wednesday that plans had changed and the truck is for sale.
What’s in a name?
I have a story this week on Fredrick’s, a new soul food restaurant that recently opened up on Smithfield Street, Downtown. I’ve had lunch there a couple times since it opened and I went to meet the owner one morning last week. He let me in the store and immediately introduced himself as Larry Ross.…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Aug. 29
Santorum makes a splash … questions about how city schools handle abuse allegations … and the latest on Arlen Specter
Critics’ Picks: August 29 – September 4
[INDIE ROCK] + THU., AUG. 30 At this point, it’s fair to think of Okkervil River as an Austin juggernaut. The folk-informed, laid-back rock band, headed up by Will Sheff, had back-to-back smash albums with the critically -acclaimed Black Sheep Boy and The Stage Names in the mid-’00s, spun off the band Shearwater, and backed…
Academic Warnings: PPS parents upset about notification process involving teacher accused of child porn
Thomas Deane was the kind of teacher parents sought out. “The guy was just everybody’s dream teacher,” says Paul Dougherty, a parent of a child in Deane’s classroom. Deane ran a K-2 classroom for students with autism at Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Minadeo Elementary. He devised special programs for the kids, many of whom were non-verbal,…
Gender Politics: GOP’s Ryan, Akin bring women’s health issues front and center in 2012 election
At most, the political scuffle outside Beaver Steel in Carnegie lasted a full minute. One woman, a supporter of President Barack Obama, and another, backing Republican Mitt Romney, closed in on each other, each waving her cardboard sign supporting her candidate. Few of the dozens of protesters around them — whose attention focused on the…
Repeat Offenders
Once again, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Police — this time over hiring practices that allegedly discriminate against blacks. As ACLU attorney Vic Walczak noted during an Aug. 23 press conference, one quarter of the city’s residents are black, but fewer than 4 percent of officers hired over…
Savage Love
My husband and I enjoy a solid, trusting BDSM relationship, and we’re both happy with our lives together. But roughly twice a month, in the middle of the night, my husband will “attack” me sexually in his sleep. I use the term “attack” lightly because the moment lasts for about 30 seconds, and generally I…
The Warhol’s Factory Direct bridges the gap between art and industry.
FACTORY DIRECT: PITTSBURGH continues through Sept. 9. Guardian Self Storage 2839 Liberty Ave. Strip District, and The Andy Warhol Museum 117 Sandusky St. North Side. 412-237-8300 or warhol.org Factory Direct: Pittsburgh sounds straightforward, but it’s an exhibit with a complex set of goals, players and outcomes. Fourteen artists, local and international, were invited by Andy…
Under the Bus?
When Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced plans to stave off massive Port Authority service cuts last week, you couldn’t blame arts groups for feeling as though they’d been left behind at the bus stop. Fitzgerald’s rescue plan involved new state money, concessions from Port Authority workers … and $3 million in annual proceeds from…
A pinhole-photography show leans toward the woods.
THROUGH THE PINHOLE continues through Sept. 7. Irma Freeman Center for Imagination 5006 Penn Ave. Bloomfield. 412-924-0634 or irmafreeman.org What is it about pinhole photography that makes people want to lie down in the grass? In Pinhole, a group show at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, about half the images either have subjects (usually…
Short List: August 29 – September 4
When the Steel City Derby Demons formed, in 2006, contemporary roller-derby was still maturing. Players wore outrageous costumes and had jokey pseudonyms; out on the track, they camped it up. It’s much different now, says veteran Betsy Wack: The Demons and other Women’s Flat Track Derby Assocation squads train hard and skate hard during their…
The Well Digger’s Daughter
The Well Digger’s Daughter Directed by: Daniel Auteuil Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Nicolas Duvauchelle In French, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Aug. 31. Regent Square You don’t have to be a Francophile to take pleasure from The Well Digger’s Daughter, but if you are, then brace yourself for a buffet of your favorite dishes. There’s…
Mirchi
Mirchi 20445 Route 19 (Excel Center Plaza) Cranberry. 724-772-1867 Hours: Tue.-Sun. Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., dinner 4:30-9:30 p.m. Prices: Soups, salads and starters $3-8; entrees $10-16 Liquor: BYOB It’s no secret, at this point, that some of the most uniquely excellent ethnic food can be found in some of the most nondescript suburban strip malls.…
Lawless
Early in Lawless — an entertaining bloodbath about Depression-era Virginia moonshiners — two rival roosters fight chest to chest in the dust, and our metaphor is established. When a cologne-soaked Chicago cop (Guy Pearce) comes to town and sets his price for letting the ‘shiners conduct their enterprise, the war of machismo begins. (Spoiler alert:…
After a serious car accident, owner finds new career with Downtown soul-food location
Until last year, Larry Ross had never given much thought to opening up his own restaurant. A contractor by trade, his food-service experience consisted mostly of a brief stint running a take-out joint in Sheraden when he was laid off from his job six years ago. But after seriously injuring his back in a May…
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Alison Klayman’s film is a straightforward documentary about an extraordinary individual, the contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Arguably China’s most well-known artist, Weiwei enjoys fawning attention in the West, particularly for his pointed critiques of his homeland’s government, while in Beijing, his celebrity and influence is constantly checked by the authorities. Klayman interviews colleagues, sketches…
With new head Rob Hirst, local bartender guild hopes to continue momentum
Last year, Pittsburgh became the 25th city in the country to charter a chapter of the United States Bartender Guild. During its inaugural year, the local chapter was helmed by Salt of the Earth’s Maggie Meskey. Now, after a chapter-wide election, longtime Big Burrito bartender Rob Hirst takes the reins. Hirst, who has been bartending…
Celeste & Jesse Forever
Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) speak to each other in exaggerated Russian accents, which is how you know that they’re so great together. The young married couple is not, however, as blissful as they first appear — she’s on the fast track to success, he refuses to grow up — which is why…
New scholarship program encourages local cheesemakers
Lori Sollenberger asked for it. “The cheeses you sent me are masterly in execution. … But they are boring,” read the letter she received from Steve Jenkins, owner of New York Fairway Market and one of the country’s top cheesemongers. “So boring that I would not … include them in my selections at the stores…
Robot & Frank
In this slightly off-beat dramedy set in the near future, elderly Frank (Frank Langella) is failing. He dodders about his house, tucked away outside some small New York town; eats sugary cereal; visits the library and chats with the librarian (Susan Sarandon); and shoplifts from town stores. He’s lonely, angry, and prone to memory loss,…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/29/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Republican National Convention; Ann Romney’s speech; Santorum is obsessed with hands; Corbett calls Ron Paul Paul Ryan; polls show Repubs are toast in PA; no Romney ads in PA; the hardships of Ann & Mitt; Paul Ryan: “Rape is a method of conception;” we laugh, but Romney COULD win; Jimmy…
Twin Propellers in Turbulence
THE HARLAN TWINS LP RELEASE with DELICIOUS PASTRIES, OUTSIDEINSIDE. 10 p.m. Fri., Sept. 7. Belvedere’s, 4016 Butler St. Lawrenceville. $5. 412-687-2555 or belvederesultradive.com Three years after The Harlan Twins’ first release, and closer to five since the band formed, it still sort of vexes Carrie Battle a bit if someone asks who’s in the band. …
Colter Harper goes solo
COLTER HARPER CD RELEASE part of SPACE EXCHANGE. 9 p.m. Tue., Sept. 4. Thunderbird Café 4023 Butler St. Lawrenceville. Free. 412-682-0177 or thunderbirdcafe.net Colter Harper’s guitar bridges the gap between a few subsets of the local music scene. As a student of local guitarists Joe Negri and Jimmy Ponder, Harper developed a strong jazz vocabulary…
Identity X rocks to remember a friend
ROCK TO REMEMBER: A TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL HAINES. With IDENTITY X, DOWNPLAY, THE MORNING AFTER, MODEL CLASS CITIZENS. 6:30 p.m. Sat., Sept. 1. Altar Bar, 1620 Penn Ave. Strip District. $10-12. All ages. 412-206-9719 or idxmusic.com Many of us were shaken last February when news broke of the murder of an armored-car guard, allegedly at…
CD Reviews
TheFive6 Last Minute Reservations (Self-released) Full-length of sunny pop from the local four-piece; mostly personal and/or inspirational lyrics delivered by the capable voice of Cathleen Ireland. Some ’90s pop influences show: The second track, “Granted,” reminded me of Des’ree’s “You Gotta Be,” and sometimes some up-beat guitar work reminds me of No Doubt’s crossover. THEFIVE6.…
